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Roads to Diversity
Adams Morgan Heritage Trail
3 The Roots of Reed-Cooke
In 1947, the building on your left opened as the National Arena, a public roller rink and bowling alley. It also hosted professional wrestling, roller derbies, and rock concerts. In 1986 it became the Citadel Motion Picture Center, where portions of Peggy Sue Got Married, Gardens of Stone, and other movies were filmed. In 1994 MTV recorded its town hall meeting with President Bill Clinton in the studio here in Reed-Cooke.
Reed-Cooke's earliest African American settlers moved here from what is now Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park. The came in the late 1880s after Mary Foote Henderson evicted them from her property. Reed-Cooke became industrial as well as residential, with warehouses and car dealerships. The Church of the Savior's missions and King Emmanuel Baptist Church (originally Meridian Hill Church), behind you on Kalorama Road, supported the community's spiritual and social needs.
Like much of this area, Reed-Cooke experienced decline in the 1950s and 1960s. The Adams Morgan Planning Committee called its small industrial section a "deteriorating influence," and wanted to demolish or adapt it along with nearby houses. But residents worked to fend off urban renewal and the Adams Morgan Organization, Jubilee Housing, Adams Morgan Community Development Corporation, King Emmanuel Baptist Church, and many others mustered funding to preserve buildings and create affordable apartments.
In 1981 ANC Commissioner Edward G. Jackson, Sr., coined "Reed-Cooke" for the area between 16th and 18th Streets, and led a community effort to make it official. The name, like Adams Morgan's, recognizes two schools: the Marie H. Reed Community Learning Center (Champlain Street), and the H.D. Cooke Elementary School (17th and Euclid). |